Glimmer of hope for Romania`s faded architectural gems
(Artdaily.org)

In a spa town nestled near Romania`s border with Bulgaria and Serbia, Oana Chirila puts on her hard hat and gets down to work with a dozen other young architects to try to save their country`s heritage. Some of the precious architectural gems they are striving to restore bore witness to centuries of Romanian history and the crowned heads who ruled it through the ages. Yet their sheer longevity has left many needing more than just a little tender loving care, which Chirila and her team have resolved to supply as they beaver away in a vaulted, once sumptuous hall at the heart of the charming but down-at-heel imperial Herculane Baths resort. Chirila has embarked on an ambitious project to restore lustre to the crumbling, neglected baths complex, built between 1883 and 1886, which has suffered from a combination of official apathy and unhappy